Automatic weft-replenishing loom.



D. M. HOLLINS. AUTOMATIC WEFT REPLENISHING LOOM.

I APYLIOATION FILED APR. 1, 1912.

1,038,88. Patented Sept. 17,1912.

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W/Tnesses. /WE 1 WW (0 D. M. HOLLINS. AUTOMATIC WBFT REPLENISHING LOOM.

Patented Sept. 17,1912.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 1, 1912. 1 088 888..

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1). M. HOLLINS'. AUTOMATIC WEFT REPLBNISHING LOOM.

Patented Sept. 17, 1912.

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APPLICATION FILED APR. 1, 1912.

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DENIS MACHELL HOLLIN S, OF BLACKBURN, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR TO DRAPER COM- PANY, OF HOPEDALE, MASSACHUSETTS;

A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

AUTOMATIC WEFT-REPLENISHING LOOM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 17, 1912.

Application filed April 1, 1912. Serial No. 687,612.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, Dams MAoHnLL Hon- LIN-S, a subject of King George V of Great Britain, residing at Blackburn, in the county of Lancaster, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic -Weft-Replenishing Looms, of which the following is a specification.

This invention in automatic weft replenishing looms has for its primary object the prevention of shading or like effects sometimes produced in fabric woven with the filling in one shuttle, and, on the exhaustion of that filling, with a fresh supply of filling supplied to the same shuttle, as is customary at present. a

The shading or like effects may be produced by slight variation in the coloror counts of one supply of filling from the sup-,.

- ply immediately preceding it, or from the two shuttles makes two next following supply, or one supply of filling may vary somewhat in character from another supply. To avoid the formation of this shading or other effects due to variations in the color or character orcounts of the. filling, I propose to blend the filling from two shuttles, that is to say, one of the picks or a multiple thereof and then the other shuttle makes two picks or a multiple thereof and so on.

My invention consists in applying to an ordinary weft replenishing loom havinga magazine for containing spare weft carriers mounted over a stationary shuttle box at one end. of the lay and means for transferring one of said square weft carriers into a shuttle in said stationary box, in combination with movable shuttle boxes at the opposite end of the lay adapted to contain two shuttles each brought into action alternately, or, as hereinafter described, a plurality of shuttles each brought into action succes- -sive ly, a filling'feeleror detector having en- -mova ble shuttle boxes,

of a shuttle which for the time being is inactive and will, through the usual transmit ting lever, position the usual latch in readiness for the actuation of the weft replenishing motion when the inactive shuttle with the exhausted bobbin therein has been lowered to the level of the lay and picked across the loom, the feeler device being moved to inoperative position when the boxes are changing; means being also provided for holding the weft extending from the fabric to the inactive shuttle or shuttles clear of the weft fork.

The movable shuttle boxes and the mechanism by means of which they are enabled to cooperate with the ordinary mechanisms of the loom can, in addition to being employed to fulfil the primary object of the invention, be also employed to weave goods in which the number of picks of each weft may vary.

The improvements may be applied to any type of automatic weft replenishing loom, but I shall herein show and describe an emodiment of my improvements as applied to the well known Northrop loom in which a rotary battery or magazine for spare weft' carriers is mounted over a stationary shuttle box at one end of the lay and which is provided with mechanism adapted to automatically transfer a bobbin or weft carrier from the magazine to a shuttle in said stationary box on indication of substantial or total exhaustion of the filling in that shuttle.

As the general construction, arrangement, and operation of the Northrop filling carrier magazine and transferring mechanism are well known to those skilled in the art of weaving, I have not deemed it necessary to give herein any illustration or description of same, but shall confine myself to showing and describing only those parts of the loom which have been modified in construction and arrangement and the added parts necessary to enable my invention to be applied,

the particular embodiment illustrated providing for two movable shuttle boxes.

In the accompanying drawings :-Figure I 1 is a plan view of one end, in this instance the left hand end. of the lay and breast beam of a loom of the Northrop type, showing the and such other parts form of feeler I provide to enable indica as are necessary to illustrate my improvements; Fig. 2 is a section on the line AA, Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows; Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic end view of the loom, showing the means for raising and lowering the shuttle boxes, means for controlling the movements of the boxes and the operation of the feeler and the novel tions of the state of the filling on the bobbins in the respective boxes to be obtained; Fig. 4 is a front View of the upper part of the means for controlling the movements of the boxes and the operation of the feeler, that is B, Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is a rear view of part of the lay and of the movable shuttle boxes, looking in the direction of the arrow C,

6' 's a detail showing inside elevation the latch and cooperating parts by means of which the filling replenishing 'indications of the feeler are caused to operate the usual rock shaft to bring about actu-- 1 ation of'the weft carriertransferring mechanism, Figs. 7, 8 and 9 are corresponding views to Fig. 6, but show the different positions; Fig. 10 is a section on the line D-- Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows, and Fig. 11 is a detail hereinafter referred to. 7

Referring to the drawings, 1 represents the lay, 2 the breastbeam, and 3 theusual feeler lever or transmitter pivotally mounted at 3' on the breast beam and having at p one end thereof a dog 4 adapted on filling replenishment being called for to cooperate with a notched block 5 Figs. 6 to 9, carried by a lateral'ear 5' on a latch 6 to cause said latch to be moved endwise by an actuator and through an upturned arm 7 fast on a rock shaft 7 to rock said shaft and cause the filling transferring mechanism, not shown,

at the other end of the loom to be operated to transfer a new weft carrer into the shuttle in the stationary shuttle box at the said other end of the loom.

8' is the weft fork, 8 is the weft fork slide and 9 the usu'alcam actuated weft hammer, operating to move the slide 8 endwise in its guide 8 when absence of weft causes the tail of the weft fork to remain in the path of a hook carried by the weft hammer, in the usual manner, the endwise movement of the i :29, when the positions of the shuttle boxes are to be changed, I employ 31 connected by cordor the said weighted end 29 having a pin or projection 31 weft fork slide operating through a pivoted lever, not shown, to release the shipper handle 10 from its holding notch 11 to bring about stoppage of the loom in the ordinary way.

The above parts are or may be all of the usual and well known construction employed in the Northrop type of weft replenishing loom, and in'themselves, do not form any part of the present invention.

For the purposes of the invention, I pro of which is preferably connected bya link or connector 15 pivotally mounted on a stud 16 carried bya bracket 17 secured to the back of said extension, said connector 15 belng connected in usual manner with the crank shaft 28 of the loom, to supportthe outer end of the extension 1 and cause it to reciprocate truly with the lay 1.

to say, looking in the direction of the arrow 5 ;raise and lower the movable shuttle boxes Any suit-able means may be employed to 212 and 13, one convenient arrangement for flthe purpose being illustrated at Fig.3.' The .lower end of the shuttle box rod 18 carrying jthe boxes 12 and 13 has a block'18 mounted ,on a pin 19 eccentrically disposed on the face of a pinion 2Q. Thepinion 20 meshes with a wheel 21 from the face of which project a series of pins 22, 22 adapted to be engaged iby a hook 23 operated by a crank arm 24 from the low shaft 25 of the loom, which said shaft is driven in the usual manner by ears 26 and 27 from the crank shaft 28.v

iion 20 and the wheels 21, 26 and 27 are so E proportioned, that a half turn is given to the inion' 2O every'two revolutions ofthe crank ishaft, thus causing the shuttle box rod 18 to be raised or lowered every two picks.

To enable the hook 23 to be moved out of.

ioperative position with respect to the pins that the shuttle box rod will not be operatecl and either ofthe shuttle boxesbe allowed to remain at rest opposite the. race wa'y 'for any consecutive number of picks, I

,provide a an arm 29 adapted weighted pivoted lever 29 having to engage the outer iend'of the hook and raise it out of the path of the pins Zing a pin and giving a quarter turn to the 22 so that instead of engag- :gear21 at each revolution of the crank arm 124, the said book will slide idly to and fro position, which is The lever is held in this along the arm 29'.

that shown in Fig. 3, by

means of its weighted end 29 T o raise the weighted end 29 of the lever like 32 to the of the-lever 29 and adapted to into which the pin 29 occupiesthe 81 can enter, the lever posit-ion shown in Fig. 3.-

On presentation of a blank surface under the 1 pin 31',

the arm 31 is raised and, through a pivoted arm of is lowered, dropping the hook into operations of the boxes.

by a lever tive position, so that as the'crank arm 24 rotates the said hook engages a pin 22 and through the gear 21 and pinion 20, operates the shuttle box rod 18 to change the posi- The pattern surface 33 is shown in the drawing as a barrel having holes therein, but the said. barrel may carry.

a pattern surface of any usual construction and of any length, The barrel is in this instance carried by a pivoted lever 34 operated in the usual and well known manner.- Any other suitable means may be employed in place of those shown for controlling the vertical movements of the shut- .tlebo'xes. If the loom is required to make two picks only of each weft successively, the patternbarrel and connections and weighted lever may be disconnected and the feeler device moved out of operative position for each change of the boxes by the means hereafter described with reference to Fig. 11.

The feeler or detector proper carried by the lever or transmitter 3 comprises, according to my invention, two fingers or engaging surfaces or members 36, 36' in place of a single engaging surface common to this type of loom, the two said fingers or engaging surfaces being set at a suitable distance apart vertically to span a distance of one shuttle box, as shown at Fig. 3, so that if the boxes are intheir highest position, as shown in such figure, the u per feeler mem ber 36 will pass into the upper shuttle box 12 and through, an opening in the wall of the shuttle in the usual manner to feel on the weft mass on the bobbin, while the lower feeler member 36 will pass under the boxes and clearthereof. If the boxes occupy their member with the lowest position, then the lower feeler member 36 will pass into the shuttle in the lower box and the upper member 36 will pass above the boxes and clear thereof as will be understood. I

The feeler lever or transmitter 3 has as usual, a coiled spring not shown, on its pivot, which tends to hold the said lever in such a position that as the lay beats up, one of the feeler members carried thereby will enter the shuttle in the shuttle box which for the time being is inactive, that is to say, above or below the level of the race way. If a suflicient mass of filling be presenton the bobbin in the inactive shuttle then the lever 3 will be swung on its pivot against the action of the spring by contact of the feeler yarn, and the dog 4 will be moved clear of the notched block 5 on the latch 6 in the usual manner, while if the I filling on the bobbin in the inactive shuttle is block 5 and the latch will be operated, as herelnafter described, to cause a fresh bobbin to be placed in the shuttle when itreaches the stationary shuttle box at the other end of the lay.

To hold the feeler lever in an inoperative position, clear of the shuttle boxes, which is necessary when the boxes are changing, and also for any given number of picks, I

provide suitable means comprising in this instance a member 37 having a slot37 therem in which registers a screw or pin 38 on the breast beam. The inner end of the member 37 is upturned as at 3'? see Fig. 2, and engages the end of the lever 3 near the dog 4. Loosely pivoted on the rock shaft 7 is is adapted to engage the outer end of the member 37. The lever 39 is normally caused by a coiled spring 40 having one end fast theretoand its other end fast to a collar 40 secured on the rock shaft, to press on the -outer end of the member 37 and to cause it to slide inward so that its upturned end 37 engages the lever 3 and holds it in the posi- ;tion shown in Fig. 1 with the dog 4 clear of the latch and the feeler members 36 and :36" clear of the shuttle boxes. The lever 39 has a depending arm or finger 39 which is Qconnected by a flexible connection 41 to the arm 31 of the box pattern mechanism, so that when the pattern surface indicates for a change of boxes and the arm 31 is held Praised, then the connection 41 will rock the a lever 39 Figs. 1 and 2, whose upper end lever 39 and carry its upper end away from the outer end of the member 37, permitting the feeler lever 3 to be swung by its spring into operative position so that one of the feeler members carried thereby will enter the inactive shuttle and feel on the yarn mass therein.

As the feeler is controlled from the box pattern mechanism, and is allowed to swing into operative position only when the said pattern mechanism indicates for a change of boxes, it follows that the feeler is only 'permitted to feel at the yarn in a shuttle one pick before that shuttle becomes active, and is then moved by the pattern mechanism to inoperative position until the next indication for a change of boxes, when it feels at the weft in the other shuttle the pick before thatshuttle becomes active.

When substantial exhaust-ion of filling in the inactive shuttle is detected, the dog 4 is not moved clear of the notched block on the latch in the usual way, to position same in readiness for the actuation of. the filling replenishing mechanism, but such actuation has to be delayed until the boxes have changed and the shuttle containing the substantially exhausted bobbin has been picked from its movable box to the stationary shut- .tle box at the magazine end of the loom where it receives a new bobbin. I will now describe the means by which this delay is effected, the action being clearly illustrated by Figs. 6 to 9 of the drawings. To move the latch, at the proper time, to actuate the rock shaft to effect weft replenishment, I employ a cam actuated lever 42, which may.

,a hunter 43 on the latch 6 when the said bunter is positioned opposite thereto, and to move the latch endwise in the usual man-- ner to actuate the rock shaft- 7 .The actuator also has a vertically sliding member 44 having near its lower end a forwardly extending portion 44' carrying a block 45 having an inclined or cam surface 45. A finger 46- attached to the actuator 42 is adapted to ride under and support a rearwardly extending finger 47 on the latch, the said finger 47 having on its under side a cam surface or incline 47 adapted to be engaged by the finger 46 as the actuator is moved forward by its cam, such engagement of the finger 46 with the cam surface 47 being adapted to raise the latch to permit the dog 4 to engage the notched block 5 when weft replenishment is called for. So long as a sufficient supply of filling is indicated by the feeler, and the dog does not engage the notched block to hold the latch raised, the hunter 43 on the forward movement of the actuator, engages an inclined surface 44 on the underside of the forwardly extending portion 44 of the sliding member 44 and raises said sliding member, so that the bunter passesbelow same, as shown at- Fig. 7. When owing to substantial exhaustion of filling in the shuttle which is about to, become active, the dog 4 is not moved clear of the notched block 5, but engages same and holds the latch raised, the

actuator, by its cam, having a partial forward movement given to it, as shown at Fig. 8, which causes the bunter 43 to be engaged by the inclined surface 45' before the dog 4 has been moved away from the notched block as the feeler lever is swun on its pivot to carry the feeler members c ear when the actuator completes its forward of the movable boxes ready for the same changing. The lay goes back, and the boxes change, and the shuttle containing the substantiallv exhausted bobbin .is pickedacross to the stationary shuttle box at the magazine end of the .loom. While the actuator has been moving forward the bunter 43 has slid up the inclined surface 45" by which it is guided into the notch 42' and the parts remain in this position until the next beat up movementv and the latch is moved endwise as shown in Fig. 9 to actuate the rock shaft and operate the filling replenishing mechamsm.

The weft fork 8 is shown as being placed at the end of the lay adjacent the movable shuttle boxes and is preferably timed to feel at the weft extending from the selvage of the fabric to the active shuttle when the latter has entered its respective movable box, this arrangement enabling me to operate the actuator 42 by the same cam as operates the give the partial forward movement to the actuator as described, causing the weft hammer to move sufliciently to engage if necessary with the weft fork. In addition, however, to the thread extending from the fabric to the active shuttle, there is also the thread extending from the fabric to the inactive shuttle, andI therefore provide means to move the inactive thread clear of the weft fork so that the latter has only the active thread to feel at. At the back of the lay, and behind the usualweft fork grate I provide a block 48 slidable vertically on wires 49, 49. The block 48 has forwardly extend-- ing wires 48, 48, which are adapted to pass up either side of the weft fork. A pin on the back of the block 48 registers in a slot 50 in a lever 5O pivoted at 51 to a bracket 52 secured to the back of the lay. A pin 53 carried by a bracket 54 attached to the back of the movable shuttle boxes registers in a slot 50 in the lever 50 and as the boxes rise or fall causes, through the lever 50, an up and down movement, in excess of the lift of the boxes, to be given to the block 48, and thus-to the wires 48', 48.

If the upper box is at the level of the race way, then the block 48 occupies the position shown at Fig. 5 and in full line in Fig. 10, and the wires 48; '48, hold the thread, extending from the shuttle in the lower box to the selvage', below and clear of the weft fork. When the boxes change and the lower box comes up to the level of the race way,

then the block 48 is raised to the posltionv shown in dotted lines in Fig. 10 and the wires 48, 48, carry the thread extending from the shuttle in the upper box which has now become inactive, up clear of the weft fork. To prevent the inactive weft from fouling the weft fork owing to the boxes moving and the inactive thread. thus being slaokened before 'the lay has moved sufliciently far back for the weftfo'rk'to be cleared, I provide the lower ends .of the prongs of the weft fork with forwardly and upwardly inclined. portions '8 Fig. 10 so that if the lower inactive weft rises it is en gaged by and slides along said inclined portions which prevent it from getting up behind the prongs of the fork. At the top of weft hammer, the shaping of the cam to a the fork I provide an upstanding portion 8 to prevent the upper inactive weft from lashing out over the top of the weft fork.

The weft fork may, if desired, be arranged to operate on the alternate pick when the active shuttle is at the magazine end of the loom, the actuator in this case being oper ated by a separate cam and the device inst described for moving the inactive thread clear of the weft fork be dispensed with. p

\Vhen running the loom with two shuttles each making two picks alternately, the box pattern mechanism for controlling the operation of the hook 23- can be dispensed with, the said hook then operating to change the boxes every two picks. The feeler in this case will operate just as when running the loom in the ordinary way with a single shuttle but some means are required to hold the feeler members clear of the movable boxes while such boxes are changing. An arrangement to effect this is shown at Fig. 11. A cam 54 fast on the shaft of the pinion 20 engages a bowl 55 carried by apivoted lever 55 whose forward end is pivotally connected to the lower end of a vertically movable rod 56. The rod 56 has at its upper end a bowl 57 adapted when the said rod is moved up to engage the feeler lever 3, and swing it on its pivot to carry the feeler members clear of the moving boxes. A spring 55 acts to holdthe bowl 55 against the cam 54. Any other suitable means connected with the movable shuttle boxes or with any other suitable moving part acting in unison with the shuttle box motion could be employed for the purpose; The weft fork instead of being placed at the movable box end of the lay may be placed at the magazine end, or a center weft fork may be employed. IVhen used in conjunction with the feeler or detector mechanism the weft fork motion acts solely to-stop the loom when the weft breaks.

It will be obvious that in addition to my improvements being employed with shuttles containing similar weft, they can equally well be employed with shuttles containing fillings of different colors, characters 01' counts.

The details of construction and arrangement of my improvements may be varied without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention. By disconnecting my im-' provements the loom may be used as an ordinary automatic loom.

Having thus described nryinventiomwhat I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In an automatic weft replenishing loom, the combination with vertically movable shuttle boxes at one end of the lay to hold a plurality of shuttles, and means to change said boxes automatically, of a feeler device mounted adjacent said shuttle boxes.

and having two weft engaging members loing carrier magazine located above a st-ationary shuttle box at one end of the lay, and means for transferring a bobbin from said magazine to a shuttle in said stationary box, of two movable shuttle boxes at the opposite end of the lay, means for changing the boxes every two picks, means for feeling at the weft in the inactive shuttle to detect substantial exhaustion thereof, and means acting on substantial exhaustion of weft in a shuttle to operate the transferring mechanism to cause a new bobbin to be transferred to that shuttle when the boxes have been changed and the shuttle has been picked across to the stationary box at the magazine end of the loom.

3. In a loom, the combination with a filling carrier magazine located above a stationary shuttle box at one end of the lay, and means for transferring a bobbin from said magazine to a shuttle in said stationary box, of two movable shuttle boxes at the opposite end of the lay, pattern controlled means for changing the positions of the boxes, means for feeling or detecting weft absence in the shuttle next to become active, means for holding the feeler or detector in inoperative position until one pick before achange of boxes, and means acting on detection of substaiitial exhaustion of weft in a shuttle to operate the transferring mechanism to cause a new bobbin to be transferred to that shuttle when the boxes have been changed and the shuttle has been picked across to the stationary box at the magazine end of the loom.

4. In an automatic weft replenishing loom, the combination with vertically .movable shuttle boxes at one end of the lay to hold a plurality of shuttles, and means to change said boxes automatically, of a feeler device mounted adjacent said shuttle boxes and having two weft engaging members located one above the other and, spaced apart to span one of said boxes, whereby when either engaging member enters the inactive shuttle in one box the other engaging memher will pass clear of the box for the active shuttle, said engaging members moving in fixed and substantially horizontal paths into and out of feeling position, means to cooperate with the feeler device and maintain both the engaging members retracted from feeling position when the shuttle boxes are In testimony whereof I afiix my signature changed, and pattern mechanism to govern in the presence of two Witnesses.

device and permit'one of the engaging memsuch means and cause it to release the feeler DENIS' MAGHELL HOLLINS.

5 bers thereof to feel the Weft in an inactive Witnesses: v

shuttle one pick before said shuttle becomes JOHN WILLIAM THOMAS, active. w. ERNOLD SIMPSON MOSELEY. 

